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Hydro has largely been built everywhere feasible.

Well, part of innovation is moving the bar of what's feasible.

http://www.alternative-energy-...

The only reason I know about this stuff is that my wife is a mathematician who models waves. I proofread the papers she collaborates on and let me tell you, people are working on some pretty interesting ways of getting hydroelectric power from the ocean. And there is a LOT of ocean.

So far nobody has found a way to ferment chickens and turn them into alcohol.

Not alcohol, but we can make biodiesel from chicken feathers.

Solar cells are potentially made from carbon :
graphene - http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/carbon-based-solar-cells/
or carbon nanotubes - http://www.bitsofscience.org/solar-cell-carbon-nano-energy-3418/
http://inhabitat.com/carbon-nanotubes-could-create-better-solar-cells/

The other technologies like wind turbines and those steaming solutions are just alternative green solutions to solar cells that are often cheaper. When the solar cells are going to continue to get cheaper like they are and no new alternative pops out, then they will probably be the prefferable choice of green energy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/20/solar-panel-price-drop
Their co-existence with new ways of storing electricity would make them even more practical.
New cheaper ways for making hydrogen:
http://www.gizmag.com/fukai-hydrogen-extraction-process/16674/
or carbon based supercapacitors?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110512150731.htm
My point is, that there are actually new advancements in every horizon, which make this article a bit outdated.

Molten salt solar I think would be the better path, also has the advantage of just needing mirrors and a salt tower instead of solar cells that have to be replaced. At night there is enough heat in the salt to use it as a battery.

Of course they'll have to be built in the deserts but it isn't like we don't have plenty of desert land right? I bet with some work one could use salt as a battery for the solar cells as well, but I don't know how much would be lost in the conversion.

> What's the usability of such energy producing machinery?

It's amazing what you can do with 100+ year old technology... steam engine... generates electricity...
      http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/molten-salt-solar-plant/

Hmmm wonder if biofuel would be a good answer for them. http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/fuel-from-chicken-feathers/

Asteroid mining for precious metals and in-situ panel production has to be the only way to make this cost-effective. And there's no way we get all that up and running before fusion becomes viable.

The only possible advantage of space-based solar is that it can operate 24/7 and that it obviates the need for land. The land usage issue is a non starter. There is plenty of land. Hell, forget land, we can use oceans instead. And solar thermal or a slightly smarter grid with widespread electric vehicles can easily and cost-effectively fill the storage gap.

They're working on it: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090514153022.htm http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/more-efficient-palladium-fuel-cell-catalysts/

The major difference between DNF & fuel cells is that the cells exist and are being used, even if in prototype form:

I saw the green bike pictured here at an electric bike event in Wales last year but more people were interested in the normal battery bikes because they could buy one there and then if they wanted (and some did).

I would love an electric bike that could do up to 100km on a single charge/refill but the (un)availability & price right doen't make it feasable. Hopefully when I've run my current electric bike into the ground I'll be able to get a full-cell powered bike. So far I've had my ebike 2 years, ridden daily & it's still going strong after the usual bike parts needed servicing/replacing, controller/motor are still going strong but I've pretty much given the year old lithium battery a hammering & it'll need to be replaced before the year is out.

Except environmentalists are supporting nuclear power.

That's certainly not my experience here in the UK. For example, Friends of the Earth are distinctly anti-nuclear and seem to believe that a bunch of wind turbines can solve the whole of the UK's power needs.

More and more environmentalists do support nuclear power, Bjorn Lomborg "The Skeptical Environmentalist" has had an impact on at least some people.

You need a lot less power transmission infrastructure to connect a 3GW power station to the grid than close to a thousand wind turbines spread over a large area. Especially if those turbines happen to be off-shore

Not if they're located near where the power will be used. Centralized power generation I think is a big problem, power should be generated near where it's used. Instead of having large power stations, we should have distributed power generation. Not only will power loss from transmission be cut but coengeration can be done. For instance the steam from a plant can be used to heat buildings near it.

Wind generation and built up areas don't mix - you're not going to be able to site wind turbines in a city.

You can mount solar panels on roofs. New York Michael Bloomberg wants to use off-shore wind farms, small-scale wind installations, and tidal power systems. Actually one of the proposals for the reconstruction of the WTC had a turbine mounted between two towers. It's not the same but I found this: "World Trade Center's Freedom Tower to Feature Wind Turbines". And Bahrain has done something similar.

If you plan to store power you need more wind-turbines in order to over-produce and give you power to store.

Why are you stuck on wind? Other energy sources can be used.

Falcon

instead of this pointless intellectual drivel.

Scotland has all sorts of cool wave projects on the go.

There's a cool sub-sea wave farm which use the pressure changes to drive a generator.
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/wave-power-scotland/

A huge 'snank' made of several sections, there are hydraulic rams between each section, which drive a generator.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4805076.stm

The Isle wave project which uses wave power at the shoreline. When the wave hits it fills a tank, pushing out air to drive a turbine. The first one worked really well in the 70's but just after it was built there was a bad storm which trashed it!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1032148.stm